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The Experiential Dream Group

Montague Ullman

Handbook of Dreams - Research, Theories and Applications. Edited by

Benjamin B. Wolman. Consulting Editors Montague Ullman & Wilse B.
Webb. Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y., 1979

DEFINITION

An experiential dream group is one in which people come together for the
purpose of helping each other work out the feelings and metaphors conveyed
by the imagery of their dreams. It is best thought of as an exercise in dream
appreciation. It is analogous to the appreciation at a feeling level of the
metaphor of a poem.

There is no a priori theoretical base in experiential dream work that guides

the response to the images. There is only the general assumption that the
images convey meaning to the dreamer through their metaphorical
construction. The concept of dream appreciation places the emphasis on the
feeling response that comes with the recognition of the connections between
the metaphorical image and the relevant life situation of the dreamer. There
is an opening-up quality to the experience which goes beyond any specific
meaning that can be assigned to the image. Once these connections are made,
the dreamer's relationship to the image changes from one of mystery and
estrangement to one of relief and appreciation at the way in which levels of
personal meaning are so creatively expressed.

Although the analogy to poetry is valid, there are significant differences

between a dream and a poem. The poetic metaphor is a communication that
can be understood and appreciated by others without knowing anything
about the personal life of the poet. The visual metaphor of the dream, on the
other hand, is a purely personal communication of the dreamer to himself. It
cannot bee appreciated in its separateness from the immediate life context of
the dreamer. The dreamer and no one else is the proper audience to the
dream. The process in experiential dream work involves the group as a
catalytic agent which supports the dreamer in the role of expert in relation to
his own dream.

BACKGROUND

From time immemorial people have shared their dreams in the hope of
penetrating their meaning. Perhaps they merely have sought solace in the
sharing of an awesome experience. In some preliterate societies there is still
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much social support for dream sharing. This is so, for example, among the
Senoi-indians of Malaysia and the Hopi Indians of Arizona. For the most
past, however, activities around dreaming in Western societies have
followed a pattern, also laid down earlier, of bringing a dream to an expert
who offers an interpretation. The psychoanalytic context is the current
version of this earlier model.

Some degree of interest in dream sharing has persisted and has erupted into
greater prominence in the past decade as part of the general interest in
consciousness-raising activities. Growth centers have promoted small-group
dream sharing, spontaneous and sponsored dream groups have sprung up,
and a literature on the benefits and technology of dream work has addressed
itself to the needs and interests of people who wish to work with their dreams.
The Gestalt approach to dream work has become increasingly popular. It
stresses the advantage of role playing the elements of a dream in the company
of another or others (Perls, 1969). There have been notable efforts to
demystify dreams to make them accessible to the nonprofessional (Faraday,
1973, 1974; Ullman and Zimmerman, in press). A number of doctoral theses
on the subject of dream sharing have appeared in recent years (Randall,1977;
Sabini, 1972). A new publication, The Sundance Community Dream Journal,
has appeared and is devoted to the encouragement of dream work,
particularly in group settings. An excellent review of these developments
appears in a recent volume, by McLeester (1976).

We know that dreaming is a universal aspect of human existence, and we

also know that dreams contain significant personal meanings. It is all the
more surprising that dreams have been accorded so low an order of social
priority and have remained so little valued and appreciated. We suffer from
a syndrome that I term dreamism, signifying an irrational prejudice against
dreams. It seems that two kinds of social influence sustain this prejudicial
attitude. On the one hand there is the emphasis on the mastery and control of
events and forces outside the individual, with human subjectivity and
potential subordinate to achieving these ends. Since dreams have no
commercial value and simply reflect our subjectivity, they rank relatively
low among things that count in our society. Dreams are not worth bothering
about.

An opposite message comes to the public from the psychoanalytic

profession. Here dreams are elevated to a very special place in human affairs,
a place so special that highly technical psychoanalytic knowledge is
necessary to penetrate their mystery. Here the message is that dreams are
valuable but that dream work should remain in the hands of an expert
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because the factor of disguise requires psychoanalytic decoding and because

of the potential danger of tampering with the unconscious.

There have been two unfortunate consequences to this socially reinforced

estrangement from our dreams. We end up less sophisticated about how to
relate to the expressive potential of our dream imagery than might have been
the case if dream sharing and dream work had been an integral part of our
lives from early childhood. But more important, we lose out on an important
need to share intimate and private aspects of ourselves in the context of an
interested and responsive support system. Outside of structured therapeutic
situations, there are few arrangements in life where that degree of honesty in
self-disclosure can be risked in the presence of others. It is precisely this
level of honesty that must be reached if one is to move beyond the constraints
of one's personal emotional limitations. People in a dream group seem to
sense this, a fact that opens the way to greater and greater freedom in self-
disclosure. Sharing of oneself at this level is a basic unmet need in our
society.

The followers of Freud tended to perpetuate the idea that dream work had
best be left to professionals because of the risks involved and the special
theoretical knowledge that was needed. Jung's notions about dreams could
be more readily understood apart from any particular psychoanalytic
orientation to personality conflict. Dreaming experience stood in a
complementary relationship to waking life, and the elements that made up
the manifest content of the dream could gain meaning through a process of
amplification rather than through efforts to get at a disguised latent content.
Jung meant by amplification allowing the images and the qualities and
properties connected with them to come into focus as expressive and
revealing statements about the dreamer's life. This emphasis on the
revelatory power of the manifest content has been the leverage used to move
dream work from a restricted professional setting to a more general public
setting.

My own experience with dreams and the role they play in our lives (Ullman,
1969, 1977, in press; Ullman and Zimmerman, in press) left me convinced
that dream sharing in small groups is a feasible route to serious dream work.
What one can do with a dream depends neither on professional credentials
nor on one's mastery of psychoanalytic theory. It evolves out of one's interest
in dreams and on one's readiness to engage in self-disclosure in the context
of a supportive social response system. Resistiveness to dream work
diminishes rapidly once a group gets under way. This is not to say that it
melts away completely, but rather that there is a good deal of variation in the
degree of comfort that people feel as they engage in the self-disclosure
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intrinsic to dream work and that for each person the freedom grows greater
with experience.

AXIOMS AND PRINCIPLES

There are certain axioms and principles that underlie the operation of an
experiential dream group.

Axioms:

1. A remembered dream has a useful application to waking life.

2. The imagery of the dream is generated as part of an intrinsic self-

healing process. Thus relates to the root-meaning of the verb "to heal,"
meaning "to make whole."

3. When a dream is recalled, the dreamer is ready to be confronted

with the information it contains. There may be varying degrees of
resistance to such confrontation, but, at some level, there is a readiness
to come to terms with the issues presented. Our dreams are always
efforts at self-orientation to our current predicament.

4. Dreams may appear mysterious, but they are not intrinsically

inaccessible. Given a basic knowledge about the metaphorical nature
of dream imagery and a supportive social context, the necessary
connections can be made between dream images and the realities they
express.

It is in the nature of dream work that it can be carried on most effectively in

the presence of one or more other people. It seems somewhat paradoxical
that this most private of all communications requires some kind of public
airing for its message to be apprehended fully. This is so because of the
resistance we all have to facing certain truths about ourselves. It is easier for
others to recognize such truths and to offer the support needed to bring us
closer to self-recognition. The dream is a remarkably honest reflection of
who we are and how we react to situations. It is not easy to achieve that same
degree of honesty about ourselves by ourselves when we are awake. We tend
to ward off unpleasantness and fail into more expedient ways of seeing
ourselves. The group relates to and respects the level of honesty displayed in
the dream. This facilitates greater honesty on the part of the dreamer as he
learns to trust the intentions of the group. Further trust develops in the act of
trusting.
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Principles. There are three main principles that govern experiential dream
work:

1. The dreamer remains in control of the process from beginning to

end. The dreamer decides to share a dream, modulates the level of
self-disclosure engaged in response to the group's input, sets the
limits of the exploratory dialogue, and has the option of terminating
the process at any point.

2. The group is there to serve as a catalyst by stimulating and

supporting the dreamer's effort to relate to the dream. No one,
including the leader, assumes an authoritative stance vis-à-vis the
dreamer. No one tells the dreamer what the dream means. The
members of the group project their own feelings and content into
the imagery in the hope that some of it resonates with the dreamer.

3. The dreamer is respected as the expert in relation to his dream. It

is the dreamer who experiences at a feeling level the correctness of
the fit of what the group has to offer. The dreamer is the ultimate
source of validation and has the last word in accepting or rejecting
the contributions of the group. It is the dreamer who has to
experience a sense of closure before the process can come to a
successful end.

BASIC CONCEPTS FOR DREAM WORK

Emotional growth is contingent on the discovery of who we are and the real
impact we make on others. It involves the gradual shedding of illusions as to
who we are and what we think our impact is on others. Where there are
illusions, there are vulnerable areas. Our dreams reflect back to us the
tensions generated when events in our daily life expose some of these
vulnerable areas. In our dreams we seem capable of assessing these events
against the backdrop of our past experience and, in so doing, arrive at a felt
sense of their importance and the impact they may have for our future.

Emotional growth also takes place by another route. Tension results when
the novelty and strangeness of a reality event test the limits of our
competence. When tension of this kind triggers a dream, we again resort to
a backward scanning of our past to explore the possible resources we can
mobilize to meet the challenge. Inventive and creative solutions may be the
result.

In both instances the backward scanning makes available a rich memory

store of experience out of which the dreamer culls whatever is needed to
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assess and cope with the immediate tension confronting him. When the
resources thus mobilized are not adequate to the task, and the tension rises
rather than abates, awakening occurs. From the point of view of an adaptive
maneuver, this means that further waking experience is necessary before this
particular issue can be adequately dealt with.

In sum, our dreams serve as corrective lenses which, if we learn to use them
properly, enable us to see ourselves and the world about us with less
distortion and with greater accuracy. It is in this sense that dreams may be
said to serve a healing function. To allow oneself to be confronted clearly
and honestly with an issue is the first step in coming to terms with it. Our
dreams are a way of helping us take this first step.

These general ideas about the nature of dreaming are shared with the group.
They represent a point of view about dreams that defines the essentials
without a commitment to any particular metapsychological superstructure.
They are developed in greater detail elsewhere (Ullman, 1973; Ullman and
Zimmerman, in press).

Precipitating Event

I prefer the term "intrusive novelty" to "day residue" to refer to the event that
determines the content of the dream. This term defines the two characteristics
of the prior event that make it apt to resurface as the nuclear focus in a dream
sequence. The event has the quality of novelty in the sense that it catches the
person off guard. At the time it is encountered, there are no immediately
available ways of coping with it. The event is intrusive to the extent that it is
linked to earlier unsolved emotional issues from the past. Alternatively, it
may be experienced as novel on the basis of its being truly new and outside
the range of past experience. In the first instance the element of novelty lies
in the unexpected exposure of some defensive strategy related to unresolved
emotional residues from the past. In the second instance the element of
novelty lies in the nature of the event itself and the challenge to personal
growth that it offers. In either instance the intrusiveness results in the need
to explore past stores of experience in order to mobilize the resources needed
to deal with the impact of the precipitating event.

Longitudinal Scanning

This term refers to the remarkable way in which a precipitating event taps
into our remote memory stores and mobilizes bits and pieces of past
experience that are affectively related to it. This is a mechanism available to
the dreamer that enables him to explore the implications of any tensions
associated with the day residue and to assess his coping resources, healthy
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and defensive, in dealing with them. The range of data thus made available
is much greater than that at his disposal at the time the event was initially
confronted. In effective dream work it becomes necessary to clarify and
understand the present context in order to understand the relevance of the
references to past experience.

Visual Metaphor

The images of the dream can be understood as visual metaphors. This is so

for physiological reasons having to do with the need to process information
at a concrete level as a way of influencing the arousal system (Ullman, 1956),
and for psychological reasons having to do with the expressive function
served by metaphor (Ullman, 1969). Through the use of visual imagery a
great deal of information is organized in highly condensed form and
presented at a glance, so to speak, instead of linearly. As metaphorical
statements the images are intended to communicate the feelings behind them.

The Tripartite Structure of the Dream

Dreams can be thought of as three-act dramas with the dreamer looking for
the answer to a specific question in each act. The opening act setting begins
with the dreamer's concern with the question: What is happening to me? The
affective residue associated with the recent event has registered a tension
now being experienced by the dreamer. As he moves into the second act, his
concern is with the question: What is the history of this tension, and what
resources can I mobilize to deal with it? In the final act, he is concerned with
the question of how to move toward some kind of resolution. At this point
he is faced with the possibilities of a binary decision. Can the tension be
contained without disrupting the sleep cycle, or is it great enough to result in
awakening?

Dilemmas and Predicaments

There are only a limited number of dilemmas which people find themselves
in that preoccupy them while dreaming. Some of the more frequent ones
include:

Authenticity vs. sham

Activity vs. passivity
Dependency vs. self-reliance
Defiance vs. compliance in relation to authority
Adequacy vs. inadequacy
Confrontation vs. denial
Self-definition vs. definition by others
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Being vs. having

Being for oneself vs. being for others

Defining the dilemma in relation to the specific predicament that the dreamer
is in at the moment is helpful in extending the range of meaning of the dream.

GUIDELINES

After the group is introduced to the general information outlined above,

specific guidelines for the work to follow are set forth.

1. The decision to share a dream rests solely with the dreamer. No one
should ever be made to feel under constraint to share a dream.

2. A recent dream is preferable to an older dream because the more recent

the dream, the easier it is to identify the precipitating life context. With
dreams that are several days or a week or more old, this may be more
difficult except in those instances where the context was so unusual that it
was clearly remembered.

3. Short dreams are preferred to longer ones for reasons of expediency with
regard to time. Dream work proceeds slowly and should progress at a
leisurely pace. A very long dream may prove too cumbersome to manage
in any reasonable time period.

4. The process is explained, and the roles of the dreamer, the group, and the
leader are defined. Any questions concerning the process or the various
roles are clarified at this point.

5. The prerogatives of the dreamer are emphasized. He is given to understand

that he is in control of the process throughout the session and has the
option of stopping the process at any point at which he wishes to carry it
on by himself.

6. The leader indicates that he holds the option of considering several dreams
before settling on a choice. This is generally of importance only in a
beginning group. The leader is concerned with working with a dream that
might readily and clearly lend itself to illustrating the process. He also
must remain sensitive to the possibility of a dream's being offered, not for
the purpose of sharing, but as an acting out of some manipulative need.

7. Issues of confidentiality are discussed and clarified. These include the use
of tape recorders, the need for permission for any published material, and
the general question of respecting personal disclosures.
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8. There is an opportunity for the airing of general questions about dreams,

problems connected with remembering dreams, special kinds of dreams
such as repetitive dreams, and so forth.

THE PROCESS

First Stage

Presentation of the Dream. A group member presents a recent dream. Even

though he may have written the dream down, the dreamer is asked to tell it
from memory and then fill in from notes. The account is limited to the
manifest content, and no associative data are presented. The other
participants listen and take notes if they wish. When the dreamer has
finished, there is an opportunity to ask questions limited to clarifying the
content of the dream.

Roles. The dreamer's role is clear. He is simply to recount the remembered

dream and not go beyond that. Knowing that they will be expected to
respond, the members of the group listen and remain sensitive to any feelings
they experience as they listen. The main task of the leader is to preserve the
integrity of the process. At this stage it involves seeing that the dreamer does
not go beyond the simple recounting of the dream, and alerting the group to
attend to every detail. As the group becomes more experienced, it will also
begin to take into account any qualifying statements that the presenter might
make before introducing the dream.

Rationale. By limiting the dreamer's presentation to the manifest content

alone, we are minimizing the degree to which the dreamer will influence the
subsequent responses of the group. It may seem paradoxical that we should
want to do this inasmuch as our goal is to get at the meaning the dream has
for the dreamer. Why are we injecting an intermediate step before we explore
the dreamer's personal connection to the dream? That step is necessary to
ensure that the response of the group can evolve in the freest way possible.
Were the dreamer to begin the process of relating to his dream at this point,
it would not only have the expected effect of sharpening the responses of the
group, but it would also have the constraining effect of having these
responses move along tracks laid down by the dreamer. By first operating in
a clear field, without the dreamer's intervention, the group avoids any
limiting biases the dreamer may unconsciously communicate. When the
dreamer does have the opportunity to tell his side of it in the third stage, then
the full unconstrained response of the group has already been set before him.

Second Stage
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The group members are asked to "move into" the dream and try to make it
their own. They are asked to respond at two levels, first to the feelings the
dream evokes; and second to the images. They have free reign in exploring
the limits of their response and are under no obligation to defend or justify
it. They are to speak to each other rather than to the dreamer. They are told
that what they come up with is to be considered their own projections until
and unless there is later validation by the dreamer. As much time as is needed
is allowed for each of these responses to run its course.

The group's responses will be a mixture of feelings evoked by the dream as

it is being presented, by the dreamer who is presenting it, by what they
already know about the dreamer, and by feelings flowing from their own
efforts to take over the dream. Regardless of the source of these reactions,
they are considered presumptively projective until checked out with the
dreamer. Group members are asked to describe feelings in personal terms
and to avoid putting them in terms of what they think the dreamer felt.

The concept of the visual metaphor having been explained, the group now
explores each of the images as well as the relationship of each image to each
other one for its possible metaphorical meaning. Again, the group is
encouraged to report whatever occurs to it. We are seeking out what each
one has to contribute. At this stage we are not concerned with contradictions,
differences of opinion, and so on. The goal is to display the broadest possible
spectrum of personal responses to the metaphorical potential of the imagery
and to do it without "laying" an interpretation onto the dreamer.

Roles. The dreamer's role is to listen as impassively as possible to the input

being generated. Some of it will connect; some of it will be wide off the
mark. What does connect will stimulate a flow of feelings and ideas about
the image and bring him closer to a feeling of its bearing on his life. Even
group responses that appear incongruous or wrong may be helpful. By
defining what the image is not, the dreamer may get closer to defining what
it is. As he begins to resonate with the input from the group, it becomes
increasingly difficult for him to remain impassive, as his face and gestures
will betray the feelings of inner discovery.

The group's activity at this point is best described as an exercise that may or
may not be helpful to the dreamer. The members are encouraged to come out
with whatever they feel, regardless of how unrelated or purely personal it
may at first appear. This is not easy to do. It takes some effort and experience
to move away from the comfortable stance of focusing on what they think
the dream is telling the dreamer to working with the dream in terms of what
it is telling them.
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The leader's ability to preserve the integrity of the process is tested in various
ways in this stage. It requires some effort to keep the group focused on their
feeling responses initially. This is so because the images are so challenging
and stimulating that there is the temptation to begin to work directly with the
metaphors. The leader must be on guard against anyone slipping into the role
of dream interpreter and telling the dreamer what the dream means. His role
is to support everyone's right to say what he thinks, no matter how far out it
may seem. Finally, he must respond as a member of the group with his own
feelings and metaphors.

After all the projective responses have been developed, the leader may
attempt to bring them into a more organized relationship to the manifest
content, in order to emphasize that the sequence of images is as important as
the images themselves. Comparisons, contrast, and other clues to meaning
emerge when this is taken into consideration. An image that appears puzzling
when looked at by itself may assume meaning when examined in its
relationship to the preceding and succeeding images. The leader's efforts at
orchestrating the group's input and checking it against the manifest content
also provide the opportunity to call attention to any details in the dream that
might have been overlooked or not given sufficient attention.

Rationale. All of the group's contributions are considered as projections.

This is so regardless of the degree to which there may be an admixture of
accurate perceptions of the dreamer. The ultimate test of the relevance of any
contribution is validation by the dreamer. The fact that the group is working
on this premise has a freeing impact on both the group and the dreamer. The
members of the group, through the act of projecting onto a foreign body, are
able to tap deeply into their own unconscious fantasies in their response to
the imagery. On the other hand, the dreamer is exposed to a range of
feedback under circumstances when he is under no constraint to respond, and
therefore has little need to defend himself against any projections from the
group that may strike home. It is a freeing experience to be exposed to public
input of thus kind while, at the same time, being able to deal with it privately
and having complete say over how much of it will ultimately be shared.

What accounts for the fact that some of the responses of the group at feeling
and metaphorical levels resonate with the dreamer? The group's ability to
pick up feelings the dreamer may be unaware of is, I think, due to the fact
that images arise out of feelings in the first place, and through their selection
and arrangement they often convey the source of their origin. As for the
group's coming upon metaphorical translations of the imagery that strike a
chord with the dreamer, it is not a surprising development. We all swim
about in the same social sea so that any particular image may convey similar
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metaphorical meaning to the dreamer and to one or more respondents in the

group.

Third Stage

This stage is devoted to the dreamer's effort to find the connecting links
between the imagery of the dream and the immediate life situation giving
rise to the dream. It unfolds in three phases.

Phase I. The dreamer is given all the time needed to respond to the input
from the group and to develop his own view of what the dream now means
to him. He can go about it in any way he wishes; either he may stress those
parts of the dream that were opened up by the group, or he may begin with
where he was in relation to the dream before the group work began.

Phase II. When the dreamer is finished, the group then enters into a dialogue
with him to help explore any images that remain unclear and to help identify
the relevant life context. This is done in the form of open-ended questions
which any member of the group may put to the dreamer, at the same time
recognizing that the dreamer remains in control of the level of self-disclosure
he wishes to make. When the dreamer finds it difficult to identify any recent
events related to the dream, it may be helpful to ask him to try to recall his
last thoughts and preoccupations before falling asleep. This often yields a
direct clue to the focus of the dream. If the dreamer is unable to do thus, he
may be asked to recount the events of the day before. Doing thus often leads
quite unexpectedly to the identification of the significant precipitating event.
The dreamer is also encouraged to explore the connections to the past
suggested by the imagery.

Phase III. The dreamer has the last word. He assesses the degree of "closure"
he now feels about the dream. If it is not sufficient, he can encourage the
group to continue with the exploration. He is free to stop the process at an
earlier time if, for any reason, he should wish to.

Roles. The dreamer is expected to respond to the group's efforts only if he is

genuinely touched by them. What should be guarded against are compliant
responses - particularly in people who are highly suggestible - which are
rather infrequent because of all the safeguards provided for the dreamer to
ensure that he has the feeling of being the authority about his own dream.
When a compliant rather than a genuine response occurs, it is easily detected.
A feeling of passive agreement betrays this response and is in sharp
distinction from the "eureka" feeling and sense of liberation that comes with
a true response.
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At this stage the group must again be careful to respect the dreamer's
authority and not use their questioning to challenge it. The questioning, like
the group's participation in the second stage, should be an instrument that
helps the dreamer in his exploration of the dream. It should not be used in a
confronting or challenging way or as a way of getting agreement.

People with a background in therapy unconsciously tend to step into an

interpretive stance at this stage, something the leader must be alert to
counteract. The task of the leader is also to sense and check with the dreamer
when "closure" has taken place. It is at this point that the dreamer feels that
he owns his dream. He is now ready to engage in further exploration of the
impact of the dream by himself.

Rationale. By the time the third stage is reached, a feeling of trust and rapport
has developed between the dreamer and the group. A genuinely concerned,
helpful, and supportive response is elicited when someone has had the
courage to share a dream and seek help with it. There is an important though
implicit aspect of the process that further nurtures this trust. It stems from
the fact that the process evolves dialectically into one of mutual self-
disclosure. The dreamer defines himself by offering a dream. This in turn
leads to the group members defining themselves through the projections they
offer. In the final stage all parties become better known to themselves and to
each other. The dreamer gains from those parts of the group's projections that
are relevant to him. The group members gain from the discovery that aspects
of their responses that they thought related to the dreamer were really their
own projection. They learn by being confronted with their own biases as the
images fall into place in the dreamer's life.

The dreamer needs the group's help in the exploration of the images. It is the
group's interest, support, and probing that help close the gap between what
the image is conveying and what the dreamer may be defending himself
against. Our dreams offer us the opportunity of growing more whole. This is
an aspect of emotional healing that requires the concerned support of others.

EXPERIENTIAL DREAM WORK AND GROUP

PSYCHOTHERAPY

To someone unfamiliar with experiential work as carried out in a group, the

question often arises: How is it different from group psychotherapy? There
are major differences, which can be defined by a number of criteria. These
can best be presented in tabular form, as shown in Table 14-1.

TABLE 14-1.

Criteria Experiential Dream
Group
I. Nature of the The dream is an
communication. intrapsychic
communication from a part
of one's being to oneself. It
is the dream that is being
communicated.
2. Focus of the The focus of the group is
group. on the impact of the dream
on the dreamer. The focus
is on an intrapersonal field.
3. Nature of The nature of the task is to
the task. establish the meaning the
dream images hold for the
dreamer by seeking to
close the intrapersonal
distance between the
image and the real-life
context of the dream.
4. Expectational The expectations of the
set. group are secondary to its
task of helping the dreamer
realize his own
expectations with regard to
the dream. One set of
expectations, those of the
dreamer, dominates the
interplay.
5. Nature of the The process brings into the
process. open the unknown
messages embedded in the
imagery of the dream.
14
Group Psychotherapy
Waking behavior is a
communication to others.
It is waking behavior that
is being communicated.
The focus of the group is
on the impact of the
behavior on an
interpersonal field.
The nature of the task is to
seek meaning in the
behavioral expression of a
tension as it becomes
manifest in an
interpersonal field (past or
present).
The expectations of all the
members of the group and
of the therapist gain
expression and seek
realization. Manifold
expectations are at play.
The process brings to light
the unknown messages
embedded in
interpersonal behavior.
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6. Source of the The dreamer and the group The leader works from a
expectations. work along intuitive and theoretical base involving
shared experiential levels personal and group
with no specific theoretical dynamics.
orientation.

7. Source of The support and trust The leader and group

change. developing between
dreamer and group liberate
the healing power dream
images have, once their
concrete connections to
waking life are established.
members engage in a
number of strategies to
work through personal
defenses and stimulate
change. These include
interpreting, confronting,
modeling, and so on.

8. Mechanism Using the projections of Unmasking the

of change. the group to free up the projections of the various
dreamer's connection to the participants.
dream.

9. Tempo The group moves at the The tempo is a reflection

tempo of the dreamer. of combined needs.

10. Role Leader: Plays a dual role. Leader: Assumes

differences. In leadership position he
assumes the responsibility
for ensuring the integrity of
the process. As a considerably less.
participant he engages in
the same level and degree
of self-disclosure and
dream sharing.
responsibility of a leader
but level of self-disclosing
participation is
Dreamer: The control is
largely in the hands of the
therapist.

Dreamer: The dreamer

remains in control of the
process including the right Group: The group
to stop at any point. experiences the roles
assigned unconsciously
 16

by the patient and seeks to

redefine those roles in
Group: The group works terms of the present
with the metaphor as interpersonal reality.
depicted in the dream and
helps redefine it in terms of
personal life context.

To summarize, we are dealing with two processes that have a similar

endpoint, namely, the healing of the individual. Each process gets there by
different routes, using different ground rules and assigning different roles to
the participants. It is important to bear this in mind in assessing the relative
indications and advantages of each. It is also important to avoid slippage
from one process to the other without taking cognizance of the fact that the
ground rules have changed.

EXPERIENTIAL DREAM GROUPS AND INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

Implicit in the distinctions drawn above between group psychotherapy and

the experiential process are features that distinguish it from individual
psychotherapy. A number of participants in groups I have worked with have
been in individual therapy at the same time, which gave me the opportunity
of observing the impact of one on the other. Despite some concern originally
about problems that might arise relating to the possibilities for
competitiveness and manipulativeness, there were surprisingly few
situations when any difficulties arose. In almost all cases the two processes
complemented each other, with the patient learning to make the best use of
each.

Aspects of group work on dreams that were most helpful to those in

individual therapy were:

1. The time factor. There is an unhurried, leisurely approach when a group

sets out to work on a dream. It is the only item on the agenda, and it may
occupy the group for the entire time they spend together. Dream work has
its own tempo, which is more apt to unfold naturally when other
constraints on time are absent.
 17

2. The diversity of input. The diversity of response from a group to the

feelings and meanings expressed by the images presents a broader range
of possibilities to the dreamer than any one person can offer. Although in
individual therapy the range is more limited, it is generally more accurate
on matters within that range because of the amount of information
available to the therapist.

3. The control exercised by the dreamer. This allays fears and anxieties that
might otherwise heighten defensive operations.

4. The leveling out of hierarchical arrangements. The fact that the leader
shares dreams and does not assume any special therapeutic role minimizes
defensive operations. It also lessens the likelihood of issues arising
relating to transference and resistance.

5. The deprofessionalization of the process. A sense of the normality of the

experience is conveyed by the absence of any allegiance to a technical or
theoretical system. A feeling of competence evolves along with a respect
for the healing potential of dream images and a lessening fear of what the
images might convey.

6. The ludic quality of dreams. The ludic or play aspect of dreams has a
greater chance of surfacing in a group setting than in the dyadic
relationship.

The group accepts the dream as a challenge, a mystery to be solved. As the

group works with the images, there is an exciting and playful quality. This
does not mean that they are taken more lightly; their meaning comes through
in the excitement of engaging with their subtlety and inventiveness.

The best arrangement seems to be to use the group experience to get the
leverage on the dream necessary to pursue it in greater depth in the private
sessions. Quite often the pressures in the therapeutic hour do not allow for
the time necessary to work through a dream, in which case it may be brought
to the group. There are also instances when transferential and
countertransferential issues arising in therapy are clarified through group
work.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Some of the optimal conditions for any small group process are the same for
dream groups. Some are different.

Size. The optimal number of participants is six to eight.

 18

Frequency. There is some flexibility here. I prefer groups that meet weekly
for two hours.

Homogeneity. The groups are self-selective and generally result in a mix of

professionals, nonprofessionals, patients, nonpatients. Groups work well
despite differences in age, education, background, and cultural disparities.
Groups that are heavily professional tend to feel more comfortable working
with others of comparable educational level. Sensitivity, freedom in self-
disclosure, and the capacity to be in touch with internal processes count for
more than credentials.

Duration. The contract can be for any duration. Four weeks gives a
newcomer a feeling and grasp of the process. My groups tend to be ongoing
on the basis of renewing the contract for four weeks at a time. As participants
get to know each other better, more of their interaction becomes reflected in
their dreams, and the growing knowledge of one another sharpens the
accuracy of the contributions.

Group Process. There are occasions, though relatively rare, when the
integrity of the process is jeopardized. Then more time has to be devoted to
group process in order to deal with tensions that may arise within the group.
If the dream process is adhered to, tensions of this kind are minimal.

Deviations from the Process. Once the group understands lice importance of
identifying the immediate life context that gave rise to the dream, there can
be more flexibility about presenting older dreams and repetitive dreams,
provided enough of the context can be recalled, or if the dream is so
important that the dreamer is willing to risk the loss of specificity that occurs
when the context eludes us.

Changes in the Group. At the end of each four-week period the makeup of
the group may change because of turnover. Although these changes may
have some impact on the growing sense of intimacy and trust among the
participants, they also provide the compensatory feature of fresh new input.
The group joins in the decision to bring in newcomers.

APPLICATIONS

The process lends itself to training and general educational purposes. It has
been introduced into a college curriculum (Jones, 1979) and into the training
of psychiatric residents and psychoanalytic candidates (Ullman, 1977).
Experiential dream work can be extended to all age groups with whatever
changes may be needed to accommodate the special needs of selected
 19

populations. Training programs to assure competence in leadership will

ultimately be necessary in larger numbers than are now available.

SUMMARY

Dreams are a normal dimension of human experience. The experiential

dream group is one way of helping a dreamer realize in a feeling way the
relevance of the images he creates at night to the issues he faces during the
day. A social process has been presented that helps put the dreamer in touch
with these images while, at the same time, respecting his privacy and
authority over the dream. Although the goal of the process is one of healing,
it differs in strategy and structure from group psychotherapy. The process
can be used advantageously in conjunction with individual therapy. It has
application in psychiatric training programs as well as in educational and
other programs geared to personal growth.

REFERENCES

Faraday, A. Dream Power. New York: Berkley Publishing Corp., 1973.

Faraday, A. The Dream Game. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.

Jones, R. The Dream Poet. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1979.

McLeester, D. Welcome to the Magic Theater. Worcester, Massachusetts:

Saltus Press, 1976.

Perls, F. Gestalt Therapy Verbatim. Lafayette, California: Real People Press,

1969.

Randall, A. Dreaming, sharing, and telepathy in a short term community.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation. New York: Teachers College,
Columbia University, 1977.

Sabini, M. The dream group. A community mental health proposal.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation. San Francisco: California School
for Professional Psychology, 1972.

Ullman, M. Physiological determinants of the dream process. Nervous and

Mental Disease, 124: 45-48, 1956.

Ullman, M. Dreaming as metaphor in motion. Arch. General Psychiatry, 21:

696-703, 1969.
 20

Ullman, M. A theory of vigilance and dreaming. In Zikmind, V. (Ed.), The

Oculomotor and Brain Functions. London: Butterworths,1973.

Ullman, M Experiential dream groups. Paper presented before Academy of

Psychoanalysis, December, 1977.

Ullman, M. The transpersonal dimensions of dreaming. In Boorstein, S., and

Speeth. K. (Eds.), Explorations in Transpersonal Psychology. New
York: Jason Aronson, in press.

Ullman, M. and Zimmerman, N. Working with Dreams. New York:

Delacorte/Eleanor Friede, in press.